Monday, August 08, 2016

Hall Of Fame Game Canceled

The first NFL preseason game of the year is the Hall of Fame game, which follows on the heels of the Hall of Fame inductions, is generally played with all the intensity of two mimes pretending to wrestle, and is considered a big deal only because it means "football is back" - as if football ever actually went away.This year, however, the game was suddenly, surprisingly canceled because of paint issues. Apparently in the rush to repair the field after a Tim McGraw concert, the grounds crew painted on the midfield and end zone logos with some sort of gloop that, depending on whom you asked, was either slippery, sticky, rock hard, or goopy. Everyone, predictably, went nuts, with a bunch of ESPN's ex-jock commentators repeating the line "It's the NFL!" like they were Cthulhu cultists trying to summon their sleeping demon god so that he might magically restore football to the barren Ohio landscape.Let me say that again. The NFL canceled a prime time (exhibition) game because they painted the field wrong.To all this, I say three things:

It's a pre-season game and the starters were going to play maybe 2 series. Beyond that, it's the East-West Shrine Game in more coherent uniforms. Nobody will be hurt by this not being played except the concessions vendors.

The level of hysteria over all this is what used to be reserved for potential nuclear exchanges and hostage situations. Get a grip people.

Nobody ever gets to tell me that baseball is disorganized and the NFL has its shit totally together ever again.